Dorman shuts out Dempsey as New England stun Seattle

New England Revolution stunned the Seattle Sounders as they put on a show to stroll to a 5-0 win at the Gillette Stadium on Sunday night.

Going into the game, many expected it to be a tight contest, and Seattle were aiming to add to their five-game win streak.

Though it didn’t pan out as thought, with Seattle lethargical throughout, and the Revolution in their best attacking form of the season.

Clint Dempsey was returning to New England for the first time since leaving the club in 2006, and faced up against his former teammate in Welshman Andy Dorman.

Dorman and the Revs defence kept Dempsey and Obafemi Martins at bay, and kept a clean sheet against free-scoring Seattle, something no other team have been able to do this season.

New England manager, Jay Heaps, set his side out to absorb the Seattle pressure before hitting them on the counter-attack with their young attacking talents, and it worked perfectly.

The Revolution had less than 40% possession, but made it count as they punished the Sounders on the break time and time again.

Seattle started the game the brighter of the two, and should have been one up in the first five minutes, as Obafemi Martins headed into the hands of Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth with the whole goal to aim at.

New England made them regret that missed opportunity in the fourteenth minute, as Patrick Mullins opened the scoring with his second goal of the season, tapping in after Teal Bunbury’s effort had come back off the post, following an excellent cross from Chris Tierney.

Mullins was dangerous all night and added to the fine goal that he scored against Toronto FC last weekend, and the rookie is looking good.

Not long after, New England made it two as Diego Fagundez collecting a fine ball from Tierney again, before beating Stefan Frei at his near post for his first goal of the season.

Seattle were in trouble, and it got worse as Bunbury made it 3-0 on thirty-five minutes, scoring from a tight angle after his initial shot was saved by Frei.

Seattle continued to get forward, but the Revs kept on punishing them on the break and they added a fourth before half time.

Fagundez added his second of the game with a great finish across Frei, after a great ball from Bunbury found him on the edge of the box.

The Sounders might have hoped to improve in the second-half, but those hopes were quashed less than a minute into the half, as New England made it 5-0 thanks to an own-goal.

Bunbury crossed the ball in from the right-hand side, but it deflected off of Chad Marshall and into the back of the net.

The result was settled, and the game slowed down in the second-half, with Dempsey having a couple of shots blocked by the resolute Revs defence as the Sounders tried to get on the scoresheet.

Two late efforts from Steve Neumann and A.J. Soares could have added to New England’s tally, but it finished 5-0, a result very few could have seen coming prior to the match.

Seattle were clearly affected by the long journey to Foxborough, as well as the fact that they had played a mid-week game, but take nothing away from the Revs who were brilliant.

They have now beaten Sporting Kansas City, Toronto FC and Seattle in their last three and are looking a real threat as they moved joint-top of the Eastern Conference with Kansas City.

The Sounders still lead the Western Conference, but are just two points in front of Real Salt Lake who have played one game less.